Mrs. Hay

Crystal Hay

This is my seventh year teaching K-12 Visual Arts at Turkeyfoot. I have lived in the community for the last 13 years, during which time I volunteered, then worked at Turkeyfoot as a substitute teacher, before accepting the role as full time Visual Arts teacher. I live with my husband, Pastor Dean Hay, and my two sons, Caleb and Gabe, who are students at "The 'Foot", and two house rabbits, Peanut and 'Ella. I love watercolor painting, working in stained glass, quilting, reading, going on long drives, gardening, and baking. I also volunteer at church, where I enjoy coaching teen Bible quizzing and teaching 4 and 5 yr-olds in Sunday School.

I was born in Vermont, where my parents' families are from, but grew up in Argyle, a small town in upstate New York ("Go Scots!") in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains near Lake George, the Hudson River, and the Vermont border. I was raised on a small farm called "Honileigh", where I learned to work hard, raise my own food, be creative in solving problems and fixing things, and laugh a lot. My extended family continues to live nearby and I return for several pilgrimages a year.

For college, I attended and graduated from Messiah College in Grantham, PA, even though I supplemented my degree program there with classes at Temple University, Tyler School of Art, Skidmore College, and Adirondack Community College (now SUNY Adirondack). I am certified by the state of PA in Art Education K-12 (level 2).

The act of creating/"Making Things" gives me great joy, and I hope to instill that in my students... I love to learn and discover how art is made around the world and throughout history, and am neverendingly amazed by connections I find in how people create.